The sun revealed itself over the horizon, and Twilight sighed with relief. She had awoken a few hours before dawn, and was anxiously awaiting the day to come. Spike was still sleeping thankfully, as she had been quiet in her descent to the lower level of the library. Turning to the clock, she saw it was about 5 A.M. In one or two hours, she expected the mayor to arrive.

"Don't worry, Twilight. You've got this covered," she told herself as she went over her mental schedule. First, she would have to arrange the room in a specific manner, conducive to a proper working environment, but also comfortable. That meant she had to move chairs, tables, and desks. Then she'd have to arrange the paperwork to be organized by categories, dates, and priority. She could handle organization. Thirdly, she'd have to attend to the Festival.

Subconsciously, she was beginning to panic and Twilight began to grind her teeth together slowly. She'd have to prepare speeches, which she knew she was not the best at. She preferred to work behind the scenes, organizing the events rather than being at the head of them. She had to make sure the speech was not too lengthy, but also not too short on words. It'd have to be precise, but also heartfelt. As she made these notes, she began to see the need for an actual list, so she levitated over a quill and a piece of parchment.

She began writing at about 5:10 A.M., and when she finished she sighed happily. She had gone through one inkwell, and was well on her way to finishing the second one. She looked towards the clock, and could almost feel her nerves tightening as she saw it was approaching 6:30 A.M. She began to worry that they had found someone else to do the job, but also felt a bit relieved.

These two emotions began to fight for dominance in her mind just before Twilight heard a knock at the door. It was a gentle rapping, as it was still quite early. Glancing towards the baby dragon upstairs, she smiled slightly at the fact that he was still asleep. She hurried over to the door as quietly as she could, and opened it to find Applejack standing before her with a small smile.

"Howdy, Twi'," Applejack said courteously, as was her usual manner of speaking to others. She was wearing saddlebags that looked filled halfway on each side.

"Oh," Twilight said, her smile growing ever so slightly. She moved over to let her in as she greeted her, "Hello Applejack. Here to prepare?"

"Somethin' like that, yeah," Applejack said as she moved over to a table. "I figured you'd be so worried that you'd forget to eat. Brought us some apples from the orchard to eat 'fore we head out. Ya hungry?"

Twilight's stomach began to rumble at the mention of food, and she blushed lightly. "I guess I am," she answered with a slightly embarrassed giggle. She moved over to the table where Applejack had set down her saddlebags and was removing the apples. She had about six, just in case Twilight had forgotten to eat last night, too. She had.

"I figured as much!" Applejack said with a light laugh.

Spike descended the stairs with a yawn, rubbing one of his eyes. He looked half-asleep as he slowly moved towards the two mares. "Hey, Twilight. Hello, Applejack," he said.

"Mornin', Spike. Hope I didn't wake ya?" Applejack said in an apologetic tone.

Remembering what Rarity told him, Spike looked to Applejack and said, "No, no, it's alright. Was getting up soon anyway. Hey, what were you and Twilight doing all day yesterday, anyway?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she cut an apple in six slices whilst levitating it in midair. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked before taking a bite of the apple.

"Yesterday when Rarity came by, she said you two were together at the farm, then winked at me and walked away. I didn't think much of it until now," Spike explained, shrugging.

Twilight looked at Applejack, who seemed to be just as confused, but also seemed to shuffle nervously in place. "We were just hangin' out," she said in reply to Spike, nodding quickly.

Twilight levitated an apple over to Spike and asked, "Mind helping me pack? We've got to go soon and set up shop, so to say.

Spike nodded in agreement and mumbled, "Mhm." He climbed up the stairs to Twilight's bedroom to fetch her saddlebags, and to grab a few supplies they kept in the shared room.

In the meantime, Applejack turned to Twilight and sighed. "Look, Twi', about yesterd-" she began, but was interrupted by a knocking on the door.

Twilight raised her eyebrow, "They're early.. What was that, Applejack?" She looked to her orange friend with an inquisitive, kind look.

Applejack shook her head, "It's nothin', don't worry." The smile crawled back onto her face, but it seemed as if she were forcing it now. Twilight judged it was best not to push the issue for now, and instead moved over to the door.

She opened the door to find Mayor Mare's assistant, who she only knew as Mrs. Quill, standing before her. "Good morning, Ms. Sparkle!" she said in her usual cheery manner. "Are you ready to depart?" she asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"Yes, just let me get my saddlebags," Twilight said as she turned around, only to find Spike right behind her, placing the saddlebag on her back and climbing on. "Oh," she said happily, "alright then! I guess we're ready. You ready to go, Applejack?"

The orange mare nodded and moved over to take her spot beside Twilight, "Sure am. Let's get a move on."

Mrs. Quill nodded, and the trio began their journey over to Town Hall. The walk was quiet and unimpeded, as it was quite early. Mrs. Quill never was a big talker, and stayed quiet throughout the trip to Town Hall. Applejack seemed to be glancing over at Twilight every now and again, but would not say anything.

It was late enough to pass Pinkie Pie, who was up to her daily activities. She waved to Applejack and Twilight as she bounced, quite literally, along her own path.

"Hi girls!" she yelled towards them, but did not wait for a response as she sped towards something that had caught her interest. The two chuckled, and Twilight shook her head slowly.

Just another day in Ponyville. They reached Town Hall in a relatively short amount of time, and they moved up and into the large building. Mrs. Quill showed them all to Twilight's temporary office, and all Spike said was, "Wow."

The room was cluttered with folders, papers, and office supplies. It was a total mess, and Twilight had to do a double-take to make sure she was not simply seeing things. She could almost see a physical list in her head, and it was getting longer by the second.

"I'll let you get set up. Let me know if you need anything!" Mrs. Quill said as she exited the room.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us, huh Sugarcube?" Applejack said.

Twilight sat on her haunches, mouth agape. Once she took it all in, she finally said with a sigh, "We're doomed."